[JumbleJim]

I'm curious. I asked a question about this the other day in another thread and didn't really get an answer.

Why have mancunians taken to referring to the city centre part of manchester (and by that I am including the parts of Salford etc.) as "Central" Manchester. I've also seen North, South, etc. Manchester.

It seems like a rather lame attempt to emulate London which is bizarre for two reasons:

1. You get the impression Manchester wants to be something different from London but yet appears to be setting London 'as standard'.

2. You can realistically walk around 'Central' Manchester. Buses/Trams are designed to get in to the city and out to the suburbs (ok, from a pratical save time point of view taking a bus from extremity city part A to part B must happen) - but in Central London walking from say Scotland Yard in Victoria to say the Gherkin in the city or even Canary Wharf would take hours (if not the best part of a day!) - there is a whole circuluar tube line devoted to getting getting you around west central London and then of course the DLR which connects the docklands to the city without even mentioning the 100s of bus routes purely designed to get people around central london.

Lets not dispute, Manchester is big influential city, but a metropolis it's not. The concept of Greater Manchester is pratical purely from an administrative point of view - its boroughs are very distinct and separate from each other.

So again, why call it Central Manchester? Is this a delusion of Grandeur? What exactly is wrong with just using 'City Centre' terminology? I'm not attacking Manchester or its strides to make progress but attempting to call a litre a gallon when its clearly not doesnt fool anyone (it didnt fool the IOC [twice!] ).

Im interested to hear your opinions....

 

[SleepyOne]

Strange obsession of yours, Jumble. Why the concern? Now there's an interesting question.

Central Manchester is not a contrived term, it is a descriptive and useful term that denotes the part of the Manchester connurbation that is located.... at the centre. Its centre of gravity. The city centre. End of.

Happy?

 

[JumbleJim]

"Strange obsession of yours, Jumble. Why the concern? Now there's an interesting question.

Central Manchester is not a contrived term, it is a descriptive and useful term that denotes the part of the Manchester connurbation that is located.... at the centre. Its centre of gravity. The city centre. End of."

It interests me because reading the boards it seems (some) mancunians are the new arrogant londoner. I dont see why.

You havent really answered the question. Of course I understand the concept of centricity but I'm not convinced people aren't using the terminology as attempt (or because they have fallen fool of) the idea of trying to 'big up' the place and emulate london. You don't often hear people talking about central birmingham/preston/cardiff etc.

 

[kids]

so you would have all non metropolis cities without city centres? it is central manchester, as sleepyone said, because it is located in the centre of the county. And i disagree with you that 'its boroughs are very distinct and separate from each other' if you look around this forum you will find tons of pics which would prove you otherwise.

 

[kids]

"Strange obsession of yours, Jumble. Why the concern? Now there's an interesting question.

Central Manchester is not a contrived term, it is a descriptive and useful term that denotes the part of the Manchester connurbation that is located.... at the centre. Its centre of gravity. The city centre. End of."

It interests me because reading the boards it seems (some) mancunians are the new arrogant londoner. I dont see why.

You havent really answered the question. Of course I understand the concept of centricity but I'm not convinced people aren't using the terminology as attempt (or because they have fallen fool of) the idea of trying to 'big up' the place and emulate london. You don't often hear people talking about central birmingham/preston/cardiff etc.

what you are talking about is insane, the city centre club is not just reserved for the mega cities. if you go to any city, well most, you will find that they refer to the (i don't know what else you would call it!) as the centre.

 

[highriser]

Jim it does sound a little pedantic what your saying , i personally would say Central Manchester and City centre Manchester are exactly the same thing..
I think its mostly a media term, when they say Central Manchester and not something said by most Mancunians.
I also think the same thing is said in Birmingham,Liverpool,Leeds,,,,
Why does saying Central Manchester make you think that Manchester is trying to emulate London,???,,,its just a word,,London is London and Manchester is Manchester

 

[JumbleJim]

"so you would have all non metropolis cities without city centres? it is central manchester, as sleepyone said, because it is located in the centre of the county. And i disagree with you that 'its boroughs are very distinct and separate from each other' if you look around this forum you will find tons of pics which would prove you otherwise."

How can you not have a city centre in a city?! Where did you get that question from ?(certainly not my post).

Ok I appreciate your going by the argument 'call it central manchester cos its in the centre of manchester' but I'm asking why has that term been adopted - its a relatively new. Do you think people are trying to big it up and delude us in to thinking its more grand than it actually is?

My understanding of the boroughs is that they are not continuous sprawl. My question is about the terminology though - not boundaries.

 

[JumbleJim]

"Jim it does sound a little pedantic what your saying , i personally would say Central Manchester and City centre Manchester are exactly the same thing..
I think its mostly a media term, when they say Central Manchester and not something said by most Mancunians.
I also think the same thing is said in Birmingham,Liverpool,Leeds,,,,
Why does saying Central Manchester make you think that Manchester is trying to emulate London,???,,,its just a word,,London is London and Manchester is Manchester"

Its purely the impression I personally get. I could be misguided of course (which is the point really). Why do you think the media has taken on board the central term then?

 

[kids]

sorry i see now, i think people have come up with it purley because it was, or still is, called the city centre. most people see greater manchester as a city. so they assumed it was central manchester.

 

[highriser]

i dont know jimmy ,,ask ITN ,next time there reporting from Manchester,why they call it Central Manchester ,when they are in the city centre,,,lol

This is so petty, who gives a **** anyway :laugh:

 

[dgnr8]

Wherever you are in Manc, you get on a bus and say "town" and you're taken to the City Centre. Or Central Manc. Whichever way you want to call it. See, the thing that bugs me is Mancs are classed as arrogant for denying things like this. It's not arrogance, most of us just don't care about arguing over such silly things.

 

[Longsight M13]

Can't we just call it 'town'?

 

[dj]

For the real pedants.
Why do those of us who live outside the city center refer to going into the city center as going into town.

 

[dj]

Mmmm....

3 of us had the same thought

 

[Guest]

My understanding of the boroughs is that they are not continuous sprawl.

:laugh: Sorry but that's a load of tripe. You can drive through Tameside, Stockport, Trafford or Salford from Manchester without leaving the conurbation. The gap between Manchester and Bolton is tiny these days too and is shrinking by the day. If you seriously think that most of it is not continuous then you really are deluded.

 

[Guest]

For JJ who does not seem to appreciate the boundary situation in Manc.

The area directly the other side of the canal is Trafford - which goes right up to the crappy big red brick building, which is the boundary for Manchester. The picture was taken from Salford.

You can get similar pictures in the suburbs for just about all the 10 bourgh's (except Wigan maybe).

 

[Priscilla QOTD]

I can see where Jimbob Walton's coming from. I will freely admit that I use the term Central Manchester all the time. However, I believe it is a term that refers to slightly more than what most would consider the City Centre. For instance, I would not call the University Campus, or the main hospital complexes along oxford road "city Centre". I would call them Central Manchester though. Indeed, the government's own NHS body in this area is entitled "Central Manchester and Children's University Hospital Trust" or summat to that effect.

Salford has the same thing. That part of the City Centre which lies within Salford's administrative boundaries, along with a few other areas of Salford I wouldn't consider as "City centre" such as Crescent Regent Road area and Salford University, I would refer to as Central Salford. It's slightly less confusing in Salford's case because it doesn't actually have a city centre that can be distinguished from Manchester's.

In short, I think that when you refer to a place's "Central" area, it covers an area including, but larger than that place's "City Centre". People are free to disagree with me, but that's the way I see it. And I'm always right. And you're shit if you don't agree.

Oh yeah, and I don't agree that the boroughs aren't integrated. There is a slight "separatist" attitude amongst some OAPs in Rochdale, Bolton and Wigan, but they'll be dead soon enough. They're just too attached to the word Lancashire. They seem to forget that Manchester has Lancashire heritage anyway.

I think DGN made a very good response to the "arrogance" comment. I hadn't even thought of this issue before, so for me at least, it's nothing to do with delusions of grandeur or arrogance. In fact, I can only put it down to my apathy towards such debates, that I wasn't offended by some remarks.

I'm glad wotsisface brought the topic up though, because I've been forced to spend an hour of work time to resolve in my own mind why I do use the term Central Manchester.

Thank you and good night.

 

[Jasper]

My understanding of the boroughs is that they are not continuous sprawl. .......

I've posted this before, a few months ago so you've possibly not seen it....

It seems from "my understanding" that you don't know the Manchester area very well at all. The next time you're in a car (without looking at road signs) or train travelling into "Manchester" try to guess where you cross the City boundary....?

 

[morestoreysplease]

I can see what Jimbo means - there's lots of white in there too, and let's not mention Wigan in Manchester shall we...
"Central Manchester" is an ok description that means from Ancoats across to Salford Quays but the City Centre I think is from Manc Way north up to Victoria.

 

[skymann]

I can see what Jimbo means - there's lots of white in there too, and let's not mention Wigan in Manchester shall we...
"Central Manchester" is an ok description that means from Ancoats across to Salford Quays but the City Centre I think is from Manc Way north up to Victoria.

Most of the white bits are river valleys or parks etc. You cann't build houses there but the Mancehster conurbation is continuous. ATherton, Astley, Tydlesley, Boothstown etc. come under Wigan MBC and ther are certainly part of Manchester, they even have Mancehster addresses. 2.6 million in Greater Manhester county - largest and most economically important after London. Wigan is no less part of Greater Manchester, than Croydon or Siducp is part of Greater London!!